North America Production

Honda's new $800 million plant in Celaya, about 160 miles northwest of Mexico City, has been struggling to meet demand amid problems caused by a green labor force, language barriers and a rail system prone to delays and occasional thefts, according to dealers who have discussed the matter with Honda officials.... Read More »

General Motors plans to idle the Michigan plant that produces the Cadillac ATS and CTS for three weeks amid a glut of inventory. The move comes as U.S. sales of the ATS and CTS sag, pushing inventories to unusually high levels.... Read More »

Honda exported more vehicles from its U.S. factories in 2013 than it imported into America from Japan -- a first for the automaker. Honda exported 108,705 American-made Honda and Acura vehicles, compared to 88,537 it brought in from Japan.... Read More »

Subaru and Toyota are in talks to halt production of the Toyota Camry sedan at Subaru's Lafayette, Ind., assembly plant, likely timed to the introduction of the nameplate's next generation.... Read More »

New Jeep Cherokees were due in dealerships almost two months ago but have been held while Chrysler developed and installed new software to smooth out the way the engine, nine-speed transmission and innovative disconnecting drivetrain interact. The process has been cumbersome, but after many weeks of delay, sources said Jeep expects to begin delivering Cherokees over the next 10 days.... Read More »

Mazda Motor Corp. is betting big on its Mazda3 small car, predicting global sales will jump by nearly a third with the just-released redesign. It also expects a Mexico-built version will help North America capture a bigger chunk of worldwide volume while providing fatter profit margins.... Read More »

Toyota is investing $102 million at its West Virginia engine and transmission plant and aluminum casting factories in Missouri and Tennessee to boost production of six-speed automatic gearboxes.... Read More »

Osamu Nagata, the troubleshooting Toyota executive who now heads North American manufacturing and r&d, is on a mission to boost capacity and do it quickly -- first by expanding existing factories and then probably adding an assembly plant in Mexico. Toyota is ready to go on the offensive.... Read More »

Japanese automakers, rebounding from an earthquake and aided by a weakening yen, cranked up U.S. vehicle production by 36 percent last year while boosting imports from Japan by 19 percent.... Read More »

Jaguar Land Rover is investigating the potential of manufacturing cars and light trucks in India, company sources said, as the carmaker looks to build on its growth in emerging markets with the help of Indian parent Tata Motors. Building cars in India, which has developed into an emerging market export hub for many global carmakers, would allow Jaguar Land Rover to skirt high import taxes on luxury cars.... Read More »

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.'s Subaru brand will increase production capacity at a U.S. plant by about 30 percent by fiscal 2016, the Nikkei business daily said. The company will invest about 20 billion yen ($230 million) in Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc, its only overseas vehicle assembly plant, the Japanese newspaper reported.... Read More »

Honda, Japan's first automaker to build cars in the United States, said it expects to export more cars and light trucks from North America than it imports to the region within two years.... Read More »

Ford has begun production in Russia of the Kuga and Explorer SUVs, as well as the S-Max and Galaxy minivans, to sell within the country. According to the automaker, more models are planned as it works to expand sales in a market that Ford of Europe CEO Stephen Odell has said could become the largest in Europe.... Read More »